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Ikenga
Ikenga (also known as The Veil, The Prince of Lies, The Far Traveler, or The Gardener) is the true neutral god of trickery, chaos, water, travel and weather. History Ikenga is a relatively young splinter from the great god Ulmo (Elven god of the Sea, Third aspect of the Host). Only coming to prominence a century into the Metal Age. But for a long time before that the nascent demiurge dwelt in the storms, whirlpools and riptides. The fearful and capricious element of the sea that sailors learnt to avoid. The first worshipers of Ikenga were a crew of desperate elves shipwrecked off Cape Rat. They built a shrine of bones to the storm and prayed into the face of the rain and lightning. In time their prayers were answered, and the sea rose up and took them. For a long time the lost sailors dreamed in the deep, and when they returned to land they did so as the first worshipers of Ikenga. In time there would be more. The cult became strongest on the continent of Valinor, and the treacherous and remote eastern archipelago of the Tempest. As a result the cult of Ulmo was slow to respond to the growing heresy. By the time the Sea God finally moved to re-assert control of his portfolio it was too late, the Ikengans were entrenched. Even after copious amounts of bloodshed drove him from the coast, Ikenga's grip on the Valian Sindar could not be dislodged. The god and his worshipers have come a long way since those days of primitive fanaticism. In a single elven generation the mad and haughty god of storms has become a creature of deception and intrigue, patron of travelers, thieves and actors. Largely due to the persecution by the church of Ulmo. Though the heyday of that conflict is long since past, the two gods remain openly hostile to one another. Several of the prominent elves involved in that time still live, including the acknowledged head of Ikenga's clergy: Iscaral Pust. The Shrine of Storms still stands off Cape Rat, defying the endless wrath of Ulmo. Ikenga has worshipers from all walks of life, many of whom venerate him while professing a more mainstream faith; Argent, Tyr or Orome, a practice The Veil encourages. Most worshipers are members of a cell that meets in secret, presided over by the local priest. His job, in addition to performing the various rites and rituals, is to recruit worthy members to the cell. The priest is the only one that knows the identities of each cell member, and not even he knows the other priests. Though there are certain ciphers and codes that allow them to communicate remotely. The similarity of this structure to certain Necromantic and Demonic cults has not gone unnoticed, and authorities are suspicious of Ikengans as a rule. Ikenga is a rather unusual deity in several respects, but the most important is how chatty he is. No priest of the church is ever admitted without first conversing directly with the God. An audience that other clerics might achieve after a lifetime of sacrifice, and then only posthumously. To theologians this indicates a keen interest in mortal affairs; to worshipers it represents a source of great pride, and to Ikenga it probably represents an enormous pain in the arse given the difficulties involved in interplanar communication. But then who can guess the mind of a divinity? Another bit of the dogma that stands out is how little dogma there actually is. Ikenga is a God that cares about results, and so long as his will is carried out the personal beliefs and habits of the cleric are irrelevant. One could be a megalomanical tyrant, or a genuine altruist and still function perfectly well as a member of the faith. This is part of the reason the clergy is so diffuse, If half the priests know what the other half got up to in their spare time it would probably result in a bloodbath. The only sure way to gain Ikenga's ire is to fail in a task, given either by a superior in the clergy, or (more often these days) by the God himself. Notable Worshippers *Rhiar Selik *Iscaral Pust Category:Gods